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Rebuild, Beginners advice thread.

(19 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by DaveC
  • Latest reply from chdot
  • This topic is not resolved

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  1. DaveC
    Member

    I've just been looking at ebay at old school Reynolds frames (n bikes). Can I aasume anything over 20 yrs old will be 125mm at the read instead of 130mm? For those who have refurbished a bike with the rear opening 125mm, what did you do for wheels.

    I'm thinking of getting a resonable quality frame, on the cheep(ish) having it resprayed, then using it as a hobby rebuild over next years spring, with new components.

    There is a shop in Toll Cross which appears to have S/H bikes. Anyone been in there? Any advice for what to get to start from. There appears to be a few Raleigh and Peugeot bikes from mid 90s on Ebay. I thought about building a geared bike rather than a fixy/single speed, replacing the frame gear shifters with STI, and some sort of midrange drivechain gearing, Tiagra/105. Perhaps even get a Shimano Dynamo hub and wheels built so I can ride it next winter.

    Cheers,

    Dave C

    Posted 13 years ago #
  2. chdot
    Admin

    "A bicycle frame and fork should match the wheels that are to be used in it. Older bicycles used narrower spacing, but older frames can often be spread out to match more modern wheels."

    http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

    Might be as well to buy complete bike and swap bits as and when - unless there is a frame you really like (and therefore wouldn't want to respray).

    Posted 13 years ago #
  3. kaputnik
    Moderator

    There appears to be a few Raleigh and Peugeot bikes from mid 90s on Ebay

    Not based on scientific, but a lot of the "retro" racers of that vintage are built out of scaffolding tubes.

    I've got an '87 (Raleigh) and a '97 (Dawes) 531 frame. The Raleigh required a strip and spray (others disagree, but if it's your bike, you're in charge of the cosmetics!) but the Dawes was ex-display and as good as out the box. I also liked the dark prussian blue it came in.

    With the Dawes I just winged it and assumed that as it was reasonably new that "modern" components would fit and fortunately they did. It has a 105 external cup bottom bracket, managed to convert to STI shifters by getting the correct stops ordered for the downtube brazeons, ordered a smaller band clamp for holding on front derailleur. Also got 105 brake calipers on it that give sufficient clearance for 25 tyres and full mudguards. That it came with the headset installed and the steerer cut to correct height also helped. Seat post clearance was very tight (there's a thread about it!) but a bit of spreading it with an old post and then lots of grease and twisting / spinning it in with my weight pushing down on it cured that.

    The Raleigh I tried the same approach but was hamstrung by head tube being of a weird diameter and the steerer having been cut too short previously. That ended up requiring some custom metalwork shimming and steerer extension to rectify (but because it were steel, it were possible once I'd found a man who knew what he was doing!). The BB was regular "English" threaded so had the shop put a modern one in there. I got away with modern brake calipers too and same tyre and mudguard combo as the Dawes, but the blocks are at the limit of their range.

    So you can take the measure everything precisely, then again, and again approach. Or you can take the "it'll all be fine and if not I can shim / shove it in and it will fit" approach. Both seem to work!

    But definitely do it! It's great fun, I learned a lot about bikes and bike maintenance, had a good excuse to buy all sorts of tools I'd otherwise never need and will be building my own TT bike after accumulating all the remaining bits.

    Also, remember and keep a spreadsheet of what you've spent / how much you've saved by buying in the sale / second hand and then do a grand total at the end to demonstrate to your bank manager / purse-string owner how much you saved and how much you can spend on your next project!

    Posted 13 years ago #
  4. Smudge
    Member

    Also if you are aiming to repsray, don't do it until you have done a "test"/dry build to ensure everything fits and is compatible, that way you don't scratch your newly painted frame finding out a front mech clamp or whatever isn't quite right.
    Doesn't have to be a "proper" build, but as much as possible before you complete the cosmetics is time well spent ;-)

    Posted 13 years ago #
  5. DaveC
    Member

    Cheers Kaputnik, and Smudge. Seems like all good advice. I like the build it up first before respraying to avoid stratching when fitting the components, Great idea!!

    Posted 13 years ago #
  6. Smudge
    Member

    It's a motorcycle trick ;-)

    The good (ie show winning standard) custom builders will do a complete working build and get everything just right before doing a nuts and bolts stripdown, then all the chroming, then another build and strip to re-check, then paint before the final build. :-o

    Expensive, but the most reliable way to get a perfect finish...

    Posted 13 years ago #
  7. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Second what Smudge said - I rushed in and got the frame stripped and sprayed and applied the decals only to realise the issue with mis-sized head tube and too-short steerer. Fortunately I got away with it, but if Tam hadn't been able to do a clever fix on the fork, and re-welding on of a new tube would probably have required the paint on the fork crown to need re-done.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  8. crowriver
    Member

    Worth having a look in Eastside Bikes for frames too. I think MacDonald Cycles has some 2nd hand frames but they tend to be high end road frames and a bit pricey.

    Springing steel frame rear stays 5mm is not a big deal. I think there might also be 130mm OLD frames from 20 years ago.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  9. Uberuce
    Member

    Bicycle Works built me mine, and since I'd filled them in on what it was going into, they made sure to pick a hub with plenty of axle so it can be spaced to 125mm nice and easy. Well, I hope so. Not actually popped it in yet.

    The frame I've started with is the one I first rode back in April/May when I started cycling again; my sister's 1988 Raleigh Record Sprint. It was the top of their low-end or the bottom of their high-end back in the day, but I know for sure it's never been crashed or even ridden hard, and has been stored in a garage for 16 of its 23 years, the rest in my flat.

    Headset, shifters and bars seem dandy, although the shifters are 12-speed so parts may be interesting to source; bottom bracket, chain and cassette were horsed and I buckled the wheels and snapped some spokes a coupla months ago, which added up to a perfect state for a fixed/single conversion. The brakes are working but are sidepulls.

    My current headache is whether I'll have enough room for a 42+ chainring. It had 42 on the inner at 41mm chainline, but I threw that knackered old ring out before learning enough to check how much clearance it had.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  10. DaveC
    Member

    I'm watching these:

    Peugeot Aravis, 531 tubing.

    Gents Raleigh Pursuit.

    Ribble Reynolds 531c frame set inc BB, 600 Headset.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  11. Uberuce
    Member

    Eastside had a Mercian frame for £230 that broke my heart by being too small...

    I would guess the place in Tollcross was Soul Cycles, who are a pack of reverse muggers if your bike is old or interesting. By which I mean you need to go round with a baseball bat and pliers to get them to accept money off you for anything but hours of work. Their stock is at the mercy of people selling, so they're a bit like Gumtree only with a 3-month guarantee; mostly BSOs with the occasional gem.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  12. chdot
    Admin

    "broke my heart by being too small"

    What size are you looking for? - the ones you're watching on ebay are different sizes.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  13. Uberuce
    Member

    It's DaveC that's watching the eBay frames; I'm now sticking with my sister's. At the time I went to Eastside she hadn't yet decided to let me convert it.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  14. DaveC
    Member

    Err.. I'm 6ft tall - normal build, i.e. all in normal proportion. I think the Cotic I bought was a 58 (54cm sat tube, but I think my Dawes is something like a .. err I dunno, 56 I think? I was just going bu the length of the tube the stearing is connected through. The longer the better (ish).

    Posted 13 years ago #
  15. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Cotic is a compact geometry frame and your Galaxy is traditional straight top tube I think? Modern bike sizing is daft.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  16. DaveC
    Member

    Yes tell me about it. I'm still non the wiser....

    Posted 13 years ago #
  17. kaputnik
    Moderator

    seat tube heights on compact geometry frames are "misleading" - as in they don't represent the overall bike size in the way that a traditional frame does. On older bikes the ratio of top tube length to seat tube height is largely constant between different bikes.

    On a compact frame, you have to estimate an "effective top tube length" based on imagining a straight line, paralell to the ground emanating from the head tube and intersecting the seat post. The lengths of top tube and seat tube can vary widely between bikes of the same overall size.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  18. Uberuce
    Member

    Hrmmmmutter. Put the wheels on last night.

    There's quite a wide and very grippy and effective looking washer between dropout and track nut, but it's so wide that the nuts won't be fully threaded.

    Options:

    A) Take wheel back to Bike works for a longer axle.
    2) Have the chainstays cold set to 120mm, thus saving me the effort of spacing. There's more than enough flex in them to be held in place at 120mm, but I guess the reason you don't do that is so they aren't fighting to loosen the nuts all the time?
    d) Swap in a skinnier washer

    I've ages to decide, since I've picked the worst time of year to build a 23mm-shod bike. Or maybe the best, since the ice is forcing me to measure twice, cut once, wise man say.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  19. chdot
    Admin

    A) Take wheel back to Bike works for a longer axle.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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